“江郎才尽”考辨

The Verification of the Causes of “the Poet Jiang Yan's Using Up His Poetic Inspiration”

“江淹才尽”在诗歌史上讼诉纷纭。据南朝史籍记载 ,其时间应在永明初年 ,其原因一是工作性质的变化使他的兴趣爱好转向了史书的撰写与诏册的制作上 ,二是身份地位的提高使他再也写不出过去擅长描写的题材与内容 ;

In the history of Chinese poetry, various sayings have come up about the causes of 'the Poet Jiang Yan's using up his poetic inspiration'. After having studied the historical records concerning the Southern Dynasties, we come to a conclusion of our own. Jiang Yan's using up his poetic inspiration happened in the first year during the reign of the Emperor Xiao Ze of the Qi Dynasty. This happening had three causes. Firstly, the change of his work led to the change of his interest from creating poetry to writing history books and rescripts. Secondly, the upgrade of his social position made him away from the topics and themes at which he had been very good. Lastly, his former writing skills were not suitable for the creation of Yongming-style poetry.